The metaRbolomics Toolbox in Bioconductor and beyond

Metabolomics aims to measure and characterise the complex composition of metabolites in a biological system. Metabolomics studies involve sophisticated analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and generate large amounts of high-dimensional and complex experimental data. Open source processing and analysis tools are of major interest in light of innovative, open and reproducible science. The scientific community has developed a wide range of open source software, providing freely available advanced processing and analysis approaches. The programming and statistics environment R has emerged as one of the most popular environments to process and analyse Metabolomics datasets. A major benefit of such an environment is the possibility of connecting different tools into more complex workflows. Combining reusable data processing R scripts with the experimental data thus allows for open, reproducible research. This review provides an extensive overview of existing packages in R for different steps in a typical computational metabolomics workflow, including data processing, biostatistics, metabolite annotation and identification, and biochemical network and pathway analysis. Multifunctional workflows, possible user interfaces and integration into workflow management systems are also reviewed. In total, this review summarises more than two hundred metabolomics specific packages primarily available on CRAN, Bioconductor and GitHub

Undisclosed, unmet and neglected challenges in multi-omics studies

[EN] Multi-omics approaches have become a reality in both large genomics projects and small laboratories. However, the multi-omics research community still faces a number of issues that have either not been sufficiently discussed or for which current solutions are still limited. In this Perspective, we elaborate on these limitations and suggest points of attention for future research. We finally discuss new opportunities and challenges brought to the field by the rapid development of single-cell high-throughput molecular technologies.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with grant number BES-2016-076994 to A.A.-L.Tarazona, S.; Arzalluz-Luque, Á.; Conesa, A. (2021). Undisclosed, unmet and neglected challenges in multi-omics studies. Nature Computational Science. 1(6):395-402. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-021-00086-z3954021

The metaRbolomics Toolbox in Bioconductor and beyond

Metabolomics aims to measure and characterise the complex composition of metabolites in a biological system. Metabolomics studies involve sophisticated analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and generate large amounts of high-dimensional and complex experimental data. Open source processing and analysis tools are of major interest in light of innovative, open and reproducible science. The scientific community has developed a wide range of open source software, providing freely available advanced processing and analysis approaches. The programming and statistics environment R has emerged as one of the most popular environments to process and analyse Metabolomics datasets. A major benefit of such an environment is the possibility of connecting different tools into more complex workflows. Combining reusable data processing R scripts with the experimental data thus allows for open, reproducible research. This review provides an extensive overview of existing packages in R for different steps in a typical computational metabolomics workflow, including data processing, biostatistics, metabolite annotation and identification, and biochemical network and pathway analysis. Multifunctional workflows, possible user interfaces and integration into workflow management systems are also reviewed. In total, this review summarises more than two hundred metabolomics specific packages primarily available on CRAN, Bioconductor and GitHub

The diversity and evolution of phenazine biosynthesis pathways in Enterobacterales

Enterobacterales is an order of Gram-negative bacteria that encompasses plant and animal pathogens and organisms of industrial importance. Some of these bacteria produce secondary metabolites classified as phenazines (Phz). Studies in other groups of microorganisms revealed that phenazines are redox-active and exhibit broad antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic activity. Enterobacterales are known to produce phenazines, but details about the diversity, biochemistry, and function of phenazine metabolites in these organisms are missing. In this work, we screened the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank for genome sequences of phenazine-producing (Phz+) Enterobacterales. Additionally, genomes of Phz+ strains Pectobacterium carotovorum cc303 and P. betavasculorum Ecb168 were sequenced, assembled, annotated, and used in downstream analyses. Scaffolds containing phz clusters were extracted and analyzed for the presence of the core biosynthesis, phenazine modifying, and resistance genes. These deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences were analyzed for the presence of site-specific recombinases and transposases. The evolution of phz pathways was analyzed by comparing phylogenies of the core phenazine biosynthesis and housekeeping genes. The results of this study revealed an unexpected and widespread presence of phenazine genes in Enterobacterales. We identified at least six distinct types of phenazine clusters in Escherichia coli, Shigella, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Pantoeae, Brenneria, Serratia, Xenorhabdus, Photorhabdus, and Providencia. In many strains, phz genes formed parts of genomic islands or were associated with plasmids, suggesting their spread via horizontal gene transfer and contribution to the competition for the ecological niche between closely related taxa

Matrix and Tensor Factorization Methods for Toxicogenomic Modeling and Prediction

Peer reviewe

Use of multivariate statistical methods for the analysis of metabolomic data

[ES] En las últimas décadas los avances tecnológicos han tenido como consecuencia la generación de una creciente cantidad de datos en el campo de la biología y la biomedicina. A día de hoy, las así llamadas tecnologías "ómicas", como la genómica, epigenómica, transcriptómica o metabolómica entre otras, producen bases de datos con cientos, miles o incluso millones de variables. El análisis de datos ómicos presenta una serie de complejidades tanto metodoló-gicas como computacionales que han llevado a una revolución en el desarrollo de nuevos métodos estadísticos específicamente diseñados para tratar con este tipo de datos. A estas complejidades metodológicas hay que añadir que, en la mayor parte de los casos, las restricciones logísticas y/o económicas de los proyectos de investigación suelen conllevar que los tamaños muestrales en estas bases de datos con tantas variables sean muy bajos, lo cual no hace sino empeorar las dificultades de análisis, ya que se tienen muchísimas más variables que observaciones. Entre las técnicas desarrolladas para tratar con este tipo de datos podemos encontrar algunas basadas en la penalización de los coeficientes, como lasso o elastic net, otras basadas en técnicas de proyección sobre estructuras latentes como PCA o PLS y otras basadas en árboles o combinaciones de árboles como random forest. Todas estas técnicas funcionan muy bien sobre distintos datos ómicos presentados en forma de matriz (IxJ). Sin embargo, en ocasiones los datos ómicos pueden estar expandidos, por ejemplo, al tomar medidas repetidas en el tiempo sobre los mismos individuos, encontrándonos con estructuras de datos que ya no son matrices, sino arrays tridimensionales o three-way (IxJxK). En estos casos, la mayoría de las técnicas citadas pierden parte de su aplicabilidad, quedando muy pocas opciones viables para el análisis de este tipo de estructuras de datos. Una de las técnicas que sí es útil para el análisis de estructuras three-way es N-PLS, que permite ajustar modelos predictivos razonablemente precisos, así como interpretarlos mediante distintos gráficos. Sin embargo, relacionado con el problema de la escasez de tamaño muestral relativa al desorbitado número de variables, aparece la necesidad de realizar una selección de variables relacionadas con la variable respuesta. Esto es especialmente cierto en el ámbito de la biología y la biomedicina, ya que no solo se quiere poder predecir lo que va a suceder, sino entender por qué sucede, qué variables están implicadas y, a poder ser, no tener que volver a recoger los cientos de miles de variables para realizar una nueva predicción, sino utilizar unas cuantas, las más importantes, para poder diseñar kits predictivos coste/efectivos de utilidad real. Por ello, el objetivo principal de esta tesis es mejorar las técnicas existentes para el análisis de datos ómicos, específicamente las encaminadas a analizar datos three-way, incorporando la capacidad de selección de variables, mejorando la capacidad predictiva y mejorando la interpretabilidad de los resultados obtenidos. Todo ello se implementará además en un paquete de R completamente documentado, que incluirá todas las funciones necesarias para llevar a cabo análisis completos de datos three-way. El trabajo incluido en esta tesis por tanto, consta de una primera parte teórico-conceptual de desarrollo de la idea del algoritmo, así como su puesta a punto, validación y comprobación de su eficacia; de una segunda parte empírico-práctica de comparación de los resultados del algoritmo con otras metodologías de selección de variables existentes, y de una parte adicional de programación y desarrollo de software en la que se presenta todo el desarrollo del paquete de R, su funcionalidad y capacidades de análisis. El desarrollo y validación de la técnica, así como la publicación del paquete de R, ha permitido ampliar las opciones actuales para el análisis[CA] En les últimes dècades els avançaments tecnològics han tingut com a conseqüència la generació d'una creixent quantitat de dades en el camp de la biologia i la biomedicina. A dia d'avui, les anomenades tecnologies "òmiques", com la genòmica, epigenòmica, transcriptòmica o metabolòmica entre altres, produeixen bases de dades amb centenars, milers o fins i tot milions de variables. L'anàlisi de dades 'òmiques' presenta una sèrie de complexitats tant metodolò-giques com computacionals que han portat a una revolució en el desenvolupament de nous mètodes estadístics específicament dissenyats per a tractar amb aquest tipus de dades. A aquestes complexitats metodològiques cal afegir que, en la major part dels casos, les restriccions logístiques i / o econòmiques dels projectes de recerca solen comportar que les magnituts de les mostres en aquestes bases de dades amb tantes variables siguen molt baixes, el que no fa sinó empitjorar les dificultats d'anàlisi, ja que es tenen moltíssimes més variables que observacions Entre les tècniques desenvolupades per a tractar amb aquest tipus de dades podem trobar algunes basades en la penalització dels coeficients, com lasso o elastic net, altres basades en tècniques de projecció sobre estructures latents com PCA o PLS i altres basades en arbres o combinacions d'arbres com random forest. Totes aquestes tècniques funcionen molt bé sobre diferents dades 'òmiques' presentats en forma de matriu (IxJ), però, en ocasions les dades òmiques poden estar expandits, per exemple, cuan ni ha mesures repetides en el temps sobre els mateixos individus, trobant-se amb estructures de dades que ja no són matrius, sinó arrays tridimensionals o three-way (IxJxK). En aquestos casos, la majoria de les tècniques mencionades perden tota o bona part de la seua aplicabilitat, quedant molt poques opcions viables per a l'anàlisi d'aquest tipus d'estructures de dades. Una de les tècniques que sí que és útil per a l'anàlisi d'estructures three-way es N-PLS, que permet ajustar models predictius raonablement precisos, així com interpretar-los mitjançant diferents gràfics. No obstant això, relacionat amb el problema de l'escassetat de mostres relativa al desorbitat nombre de variables, apareix la necessitat de realitzar una selecció de variables relacionades amb la variable resposta. Això és especialment cert en l'àmbit de la biologia i la biomedicina, ja que no només es vol poder predir el que va a succeir, sinó entendre per què passa, quines variables estan implicades i, si pot ser, no haver de tornar a recollir els centenars de milers de variables per realitzar una nova predicció, sinó utilitzar unes quantes, les més importants, per poder dissenyar kits predictius cost / efectius d'utilitat real. Per això, l'objectiu principal d'aquesta tesi és millorar les tècniques existents per a l'anàlisi de dades òmiques, específicament les encaminades a analitzar dades three-way, incorporant la capacitat de selecció de variables, millorant la capacitat predictiva i millorant la interpretabilitat dels resultats obtinguts. Tot això s'implementarà a més en un paquet de R completament documentat, que inclourà totes les funcions necessàries per a dur a terme anàlisis completes de dades three-way. El treball inclòs en aquesta tesi per tant, consta d'una primera part teorica-conceptual de desenvolupament de la idea de l'algoritme, així com la seua posada a punt, validació i comprovació de la seua eficàcia, d'una segona part empíric-pràctica de comparació dels resultats de l'algoritme amb altres metodologies de selecció de variables existents i d'una part adicional de programació i desenvolupament de programació en la qual es presenta tot el desenvolupament del paquet de R, la seua funcionalitat i capacitats d'anàlisi. El desenvolupament i validació de la tècnica, així com la publicació del paquet de R, ha permès ampliar les opcions actuals per a l'anàlis[EN] In the last decades, advances in technology have enabled the gathering of an increasingly amount of data in the field of biology and biomedicine. The so called "-omics" technologies such as genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics or metabolomics, among others, produce hundreds, thousands or even millions of variables per data set. The analysis of 'omic' data presents different complexities that can be methodological and computational. This has driven a revolution in the development of new statistical methods specifically designed for dealing with these type of data. To this methodological complexities one must add the logistic and economic restrictions usually present in scientific research projects that lead to small sample sizes paired to these wide data sets. This makes the analyses even harder, since there is a problem in having many more variables than observations. Among the methods developed to deal with these type of data there are some based on the penalization of the coefficients, such as lasso or elastic net, others based on projection techniques, such as PCA or PLS, and others based in regression or classification trees and ensemble methods such as random forest. All these techniques work fine when dealing with different 'omic' data in matrix format (IxJ), but sometimes, these IxJ data sets can be expanded by taking, for example, repeated measurements at different time points for each individual, thus having IxJxK data sets that raise more methodological complications to the analyses. These data sets are called three-way data. In this cases, the majority of the cited techniques lose all or a good part of their applicability, leaving very few viable options for the analysis of this type of data structures. One useful tool for analyzing three-way data, when some Y data structure is to be predicted, is N-PLS. N-PLS reduces the inclusion of noise in the models and obtains more robust parameters when compared to PLS while, at the same time, producing easy-to-understand plots. Related to the problem of small sample sizes and exorbitant variable numbers, comes the issue of variable selection. Variable selection is essential for facilitating biological interpretation of the results when analyzing 'omic' data sets. Often, the aim of the study is not only predicting the outcome, but also understanding why it is happening and also what variables are involved. It is also of interest being able to perform new predictions without having to collect all the variables again. Because all of this, the main goal of this thesis is to improve the existing methods for 'omic' data analysis, specifically those for dealing with three-way data, incorporating the ability of variable selection, improving predictive capacity and interpretability of results. All this will be implemented in a fully documented R package, that will include all the necessary functions for performing complete analyses of three-way data. The work included in this thesis consists in a first theoretical-conceptual part where the idea and development of the algorithm takes place, as well as its tuning, validation and assessment of its performance. Then, a second empirical-practical part comes where the algorithm is compared to other variable selection methodologies. Finally, an additional programming and software development part is presented where all the R package development takes place, and its functionality and capabilities are exposed. The development and validation of the technique, as well as the publication of the R package, has opened many future research lines.Hervás Marín, D. (2019). Use of multivariate statistical methods for the analysis of metabolomic data [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/130847TESI

A primer on correlation-based dimension reduction methods for multi-omics analysis

The continuing advances of omic technologies mean that it is now more tangible to measure the numerous features collectively reflecting the molecular properties of a sample. When multiple omic methods are used, statistical and computational approaches can exploit these large, connected profiles. Multi-omics is the integration of different omic data sources from the same biological sample. In this review, we focus on correlation-based dimension reduction approaches for single omic datasets, followed by methods for pairs of omics datasets, before detailing further techniques for three or more omic datasets. We also briefly detail network methods when three or more omic datasets are available and which complement correlation-oriented tools. To aid readers new to this area, these are all linked to relevant R packages that can implement these procedures. Finally, we discuss scenarios of experimental design and present road maps that simplify the selection of appropriate analysis methods. This review will guide researchers navigate the emerging methods for multi-omics and help them integrate diverse omic datasets appropriately and embrace the opportunity of population multi-omics.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, 6 table

Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in the Chemometric Analysis of Cellular Metabolism

The development and awareness of Machine Learning and “big data” has led to a growing interest in applying these methods to bioanalytical research. Methods such as Mass Spectrometry (MS), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) can now obtain tens of thousands to millions of data points from a single sample, due to fundamental instrumental advances and ever-increasing resolution. Simple pairwise comparisons on datasets of this magnitude can obfuscate more complex underlying trends, and does a disservice to the richness of information contained within. This necessitates the need for multivariate approaches that can more fully take advantage of the complexity of these datasets. Performing these multivariate analyses takes high degree of expertise, requiring knowledge of such disparate areas as chemistry, physics, mathematics, statistics, software development and signal processing. As a result, this barrier to entry prevents many investigators from fully utilizing all the tools available to them, instead relying on a mix of commercial and free software, chained together with in-house developed solutions just to perform a single analysis. While there are numerous methods in published literature for statistical analysis of these larger datasets, most are still confined to the realm of theory due to them not being implemented into publicly available software for the research community. This dissertation outlines the development of routines for handling LC-MS data with freely available tools, including the Octave programming language. This presents, in combination with our previously developed software MVAPACK, a unified platform for metabolomics data analysis that will encourage the wider adoption of multi-instrument investigations and multiblock statistical analyses. Advisor: Robert Power

Developments in nanoparticles for use in biosensors to assess food safety and quality

The following will provide an overview on how advances in nanoparticle technology have contributed towards developing biosensors to screen for safety and quality markers associated with foods. The novel properties of nanoparticles will be described and how such characteristics have been exploited in sensor design will be provided. All the biosensor formats were initially developed for the health care sector to meet the demand for point-of-care diagnostics. As a consequence, research has been directed towards miniaturization thereby reducing the sample volume to nanolitres. However, the needs of the food sector are very different which may ultimately limit commercial application of nanoparticle based nanosensors. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Bayesian multi-view models for data-driven drug response analysis

A central challenge faced by biological and medical research is to understand the impact of chemical entities on living cells. Identifying the relationships between the chemical structures and their cellular responses is valuable for improving drug design and targeted therapies. The chemical structures and their detailed molecular responses need to be combined through a systematic analysis to learn the complex dependencies, which can then assist in improving understanding of the molecular mechanisms of drugs as well as predictions on the effects of unknown molecules. Moreover, with emerging drug-response data sets being profiled over several disease types and phenotypic details, it is pertinent to develop advanced computational methods that can be used to study multiple sets of data together. In this thesis, a novel multi-disciplinary challenge is undertaken for computationally analyzing interactions between multiple biological responses and chemical properties of drugs, while simultaneously advancing the computational methods to better learn these interactions. Specifically, multi-view dependency modeling of paired data sets is formulated as a means of systematically studying the drug-response relationships. First, the systematic analysis of drug structures and their genome-wide responses is presented as a multi-set dependency modeling problem and established methods are adopted to test the novel hypothesis. Several novel extensions of the drug-response analysis are then presented that explore responses measured over multiple disease types and multiple levels of phenotypic detail, uncovering novel biological insights of potential impact. These analyses are made possible by novel advancements in multi-view methods. Specifically, the first Bayesian tensor canonical correlation analysis and its extensions are introduced to capture the underlying multi-way structure and applied in analyzing novel toxicogenomic interactions. The results illustrate that modeling the precise multi-view and multi-way formulation of the data is valuable for discovering interpretable latent components as well as for the prediction of unseen responses of drugs. Therefore, the original contribution to knowledge in this dissertation is two-fold: first, the data-driven identification of relationships between structural properties of drugs and their genome-wide responses in cells and, second, novel advancements of multi-view methods that find dependencies between paired data sets. Open source implementations of the new methods have been released to facilitate further research